Step father gets life imprisonment for raping minor daughter

A step father accused of raping his minor daughter was held guilty today by the court of G.S. Gill, Sessions Judge, Fatehgarh Sahib and he was sentenced to undergo life imprisonment.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 on accused which was ordered to be disbursed upon realization to the mother of the girl as compensation. The trial of the case proceeded at an exceptionally fast pace and was concluded in within 3 months from the date the trial commenced in the court.

It may be mentioned here that the Mandi Gobindgarh police had registered a case against Pardeep Chatri on December 27, 2010 under sections 376, 506 of the IPC. The case was registered when the girl brought the matter to the notice of Mandi Gobindgarh police and police after inquiry registered a case against the accused.

Accused Pardeep Chatri had married the mother of the girl about 5 years ago. The mother of girl had two children from her previous marriage including the girl who was aged 11 years old. During the hearing of the case, the minor girl had alleged that whenever her mother used to go out in connection with some work, her step-father used to subject her to sexual intercourse and used to threaten her that in case she disclosed about the same to anybody then he would kill her. The court while accepting the testimony of the girl held that the medical evidence also corroborated her version.

The court while discussing the statement of the girl observed that the girl was a truthful witness as her demeanor reflected her truthfulness and observed that the in spite of her tender age, she did not even flinch an eyelid before answering any question and was clear in her narration and did not ever look towards her mother for any help while her statement was being recorded.

The court while discussing the quantum of sentence expressed that there could never be more shocking and depraved and heinous crime than rape of the minor girl her owner father and that it was a case where the custodian of the trust has betrayed the same. The court observed that when the protector becomes the violator, the offense assumes a greater degree of depravity and thus help that the accused did not deserve any leniency in quantum of sentence and awarded maximum sentence provided under Indian Penal Code i.e Rigorous imprisonment for life and also imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 which was ordered to be disbursed upon realization to the mother of the girl as compensation.

Fatehgarh Sahib senior lawyer Gurpreet Singh Saini said that a few days back a court in Delhi, in a case of rape of a girl by her own father, had observed that in such like cases castration should be ordered as punishment to the convict so as to serve deterrent to others. The said observations have thrown open a controversy regarding the imposition of such sentence as maximum sentence provided under IPC is life imprisonment only.